The plain and the bold

My cousin ordered plain black wristlets after I watched her reject several pairs in stores. I’m not exactly sure what the others were lacking (price may have been a factor — teenagers aren’t usually rolling in cash), but I know she’s picky about length and circumference so I got detailed specifications from her and made these:

Stroll is plain old sock yarn: no twisting or splitting, just easy to work with. The pattern here is quite complicated: cast on 48, work k2 p2 rib for 38 rounds (which is a few rows past where I was sick of it), bind off. For the second one, contemplate working fewer than 38 rounds because it’s boring and hard to see the stitches in black, but concede that your fashion-conscious cousin will never wear them if one is shorter than the other. Have at it! I have no idea whether she has ever worn them, but I kept my promise to her and made and mailed them.

I was only able to make these because I made a colorful scarf a few days before. This is the design I call the Tapered Zickzack Scarf (because I like the German word “zickzack” better than the English “zigzag”) and I’ve made several.

I think this is the best version yet, taper-wise and how I made the ends. Mr. Quixote wears it boldly:

I’m not so sure I’d use this yarn for socks. Despite its nylon content, it feels too fragile for footwear. It should last forever as neckwear.

Nearly-Thanksgiving is an odd time to be doing February write-ups, but I’ve been really remiss this year in organizing photos and project notes. This past Sunday I sat myself at my desk and caught up to December 2012 completely, both on paper and in Ravelry, with a foray into the early months of 2013. If I can keep the momentum going, I might just be in real time by the end of the year. I’ve kind of forgotten what that’s like.